A new handbook issued by WHO, with contributions from UNESCO and UNICEF, recognizes the potential of schools as an important setting for facilitating violence prevention efforts and outlines concrete steps that schools can take to implement an evidence-based, whole-school approach. Not only do schools offer education and other activities that are themselves powerful protection against violence, but they also help shape attitudes about the acceptability of violence, alcohol and drug use and other risks. Likewise, preventing violence in the broader society is of direct benefit to schools as they are better able to educate children, foster lifelong learning and empower students to be responsible global citizens. School-based violence prevention: a practical handbook provides in-depth information that helps to implement the technical package INSPIRE: seven strategies for ending violence against children, in particular interventions that can be delivered in educational settings. If implemented, the handbook will contribute much to helping achieve the SDG targets linked to preventing violence and promoting education.

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3 June is World Bicycle Day. Established through a UN GA resolution in April 2018, World Bicycle Day praises the bicycle as a simple, affordable, reliable, clean and healthy means of transport as well as a potential contributor to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. On the occasion of this Day, governments are encouraged to improve road safety as part of their sustainable mobility efforts, in part by adopting policies that actively protect cyclists and promote a culture of cycling. When roads are safe, people will cycle more and reap the many benefits of cycling. Measures include enhancing road design, e.g. by building dedicated cycling lanes and upgrading roadway lighting; ensuring that drivers avoid speeding and drinking and driving; and providing timely emergency trauma care. On World Bicycle Day, WHO launched a social media campaign inviting people to cycle and governments to make cycling safe.

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• World Bicycle Day
• Walking and cycling

From 6-12 May 2019, thousands of road safety advocates are drawing attention to the importance of effective leadership as a vital component to successful road safety initiatives. Strong leaders are needed to provide a vision of how the future might look and mobilize action to achieve it. Whether they are legislating on speed limits or seat-belts; modifying infrastructure to make roads safe for pedestrians and cyclists; improving post-crash care for road traffic victims; or putting in place comprehensive fleet safety policies, road safety leaders make a positive difference in their countries, communities and institutions and their efforts save lives. The Week highlights that all of us can be leaders when we #SpeakUp for #RoadSafety.

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In February 2019 WHO and partners released the web site for the 5th UN Global Road Safety Week on the theme “Leadership for Road Safety”. The goal of the Week, which will be held 6-12 May 2019, is to generate a demand from the public for stronger leadership for road safety worldwide to help achieve Sustainable Development Goal and other road safety targets. The Week will provide an opportunity for civil society to advocate for concrete, evidence-based interventions to save lives and inspire decision-makers to take action by showcasing examples of strong leadership for road safety. The Week was called for through UN General Assembly resolution (A/RES/72/L.48) - “Improving global road safety” – adopted in April 2018.

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The “NVI Year in Review 2018” offers highlights from the work of WHO’s Department for the Management of NCDs, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention (NVI). Conducted in close collaboration with colleagues from across WHO as well as hundreds of other partners, activities include preventing road traffic deaths in the Philippines and school-based violence in Uganda; issuing new guidance for the prevention of violence against children; hosting high-profile advocacy events like the launch of the Global status report on road safety 2018; and announcing new initiatives, including the Global Emergency and Trauma Care Initiative. Partners are thanked for working with us and for sharing our vision of enabling people to live healthier, more productive lives.

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8 December 2018. The Global status report on road safety 2018, launched by WHO in December 2018, highlights that the number of annual road traffic deaths has reached 1.35 million. Road traffic injuries are now the leading killer of people aged 5-29 years. The burden is disproportionately borne by pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, in particular those living in developing countries. The report suggests that the price paid for mobility is too high, especially because proven measures exist. These include strategies to address speed and drinking and driving, among other behaviours; safer infrastructure like dedicated lanes for cyclists and motorcyclists; improved vehicle standards such as those that mandate electronic stability control; and enhanced post-crash care. Drastic action is needed to put these measures in place to save lives and meet existing and future global targets that might be set.

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5 NOVEMBER 2018 | Bangkok, Thailand – Violence and injuries account for 1 in 11 deaths worldwide and take the lives of more than 13 000 people around the world each day. In an effort to prevent them, experts gather for Safety 2018 to share the latest evidence and experiences from programmes which have demonstrated success in saving lives.

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April 2018: On 12 April the UN General Assembly decided on a number of steps to accelerate progress towards achievement of the SDGs linked to road safety. Among them are acceptance of the offer of the Government of Sweden to host the Third High-Level Global Conference on Road Safety in 2020, consensus on 12 global road safety performance targets and establishment of the UN Road Safety Trust Fund. These decisions are reflected in a new resolution A/RES/72/271 tabled by the Government of the Russian Federation and co-sponsored by more than 70 countries. The resolution also describes a number of important global road safety efforts, requesting WHO to continue to develop global status reports on road safety to monitor progress and inviting WHO and the UN regional commissions to facilitate organization of the Fifth UN Global Road Safety Week in 2019.

• UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/72/271

WHO has released “Violence Info”, a global interactive knowledge platform of scientific findings about the prevalence, consequences, causes and prevention of various forms of violence. The tool contains homicide rates and country-specific information on laws, policies, strategies and services to prevent and respond to violence. Globally, some 470 000 people are victims of homicide every year. Hundreds of millions more suffer non-fatal violence. Violence also contributes to leading causes of death such as cancer, heart disease and HIV/AIDS, because victims often adopt behaviours such as smoking, alcohol and drug misuse and unsafe sex. Beyond its impact on individual victims, violence undermines the social and economic development of whole communities. Violence Info was presented at WHO’s 8th Meeting on Milestones in a Global Campaign for Violence Prevention in October 2017.

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